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Sword Art Online II: Sinon (ALfheim Version) Prize Figure by Taito

To me Taito has always been a company I associate with classic twitchy arcade goodness. I seriously love me some Darius. But, I’ve only recently discovered their line of licensed anime prize figures and I’ve become pretty addicted to scarfing these things up when I can find them. And one of those licenses just happens to be Sword Art Online, a personal favorite of mine. Today, I’m checking out Sinon from Sword Art Online II. This is Sinon as she appeared in ALfheim Online, where she adopted the avatar of the Cait Sith race and traded her Hecate II rifle for one of Lisbeth’s bows. Once a sniper, always a sniper!

The box is fully enclosed with full color shots of the figure on three of the four panels. The language is mostly Japanese, so the package isn’t at all western friendly, but that’s OK. It all adds to the charm of the import. The side panels have perforated areas that can be punched out if you want to create carrying handles. Inside, the figure comes in a plastic bag with some additional scraps of plastic to protect the paint from rubbing. The only assembly required is to peg in her left arm at the elbow and peg the feet into the base.

All set up, Sinon measures about 7-inches from the bottom of the base to the tips of her adorable little cat ears. Her outfit is nicely recreated, complete with her green duster, chest and shoulder armor, shorts, and chunky boots. She even has her blue cat tail. Every detail is part of the sculpt and looks great.

The paint is where the statue betrays it’s cheaper price point. There’s some white paint transfer on her green coat and the yellow piping could be sharper and more evenly applied in some areas. With that having been said, there’s also some great paintwork here as well, like the beautiful silver used for the armor. The plastic used for her skin tones is also excellent. Overall, I’d say this is the kind of paintwork I would expect out of a Western 6-inch action figure in the $20 price range. It’s not particularly bad, but it a reminder that this is a value piece.

The portrait here is solid. Her large eyes are flawlessly printed onto the figure and she sports a determined expression. I love the way her sculpted hair hangs over and frames her face. The hair in general sports great detail from her ears down to the hanging ponytails and the soft blue they used is quite nice.

The bow is soft and flexible, but not so much that it seems in danger of warping. It’s permanently attached to her left hand and the arm pegs in to the socket very securely. Finally, the figure comes on a simple, round black base with pegs to support her feet.

At $25, Sinon is a bit higher than many of the Banpresto Prize figures, but still a far cry from the $80-100 that most of my anime figures average. And that makes me seriously happy to have discovered this line because with my diverse and eclectic collecting habits, I can’t always spare $100+ a pop for statues of all my favorite characters. If this piece is indicative of the rest of Taito’s line, it seems to offer a nice compromise. The figure may be a bit smaller than the usual 1/8 scale anime figures. And sure, the paint may not be as sharp as those expensive premium pieces, but for the value this line can’t be beat and I’m looking forward to featuring many more of these here on FFZ.